El Paso picked by state to be a mega-vaccine site, will get 10k additional doses
EL PASO, Texas – El Paso has been selected by the state of Texas to be a mega-vaccine site, city health officials said.
The city will be receiving 5,000 additional Covid-19 vaccines next week and the county will be getting 5,000 more.
While 10,000 doses are on their way to the Borderland the demand continues to be much higher than the supply as more than 80,000 El Pasoans have registered for the Covid-19 vaccine.
“It’s dependent on the supply and as the vaccines come in, we will focus on those that are pre-registered. When they pre-register they have to understand that we are focusing on 1A and 1B classifications,” Fire Chief Mario D'Agostino said.
The vaccines will be used for first responders and health-care personnel who are determined to be essential. They will also be used for people age 65 and older and those 16 and older with at least chronic medical condition.
Vaccination efforts continue for folks who have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. El Paso City officials tell ABC-7 those booster shots are on schedule to be administered.
“We haven’t reached 100 percent of the individuals but we are calling them. We began calling them yesterday to provide the second dose appointment. That is happening as we speak” Public Health Director Angela Mora said.
The city will take the same approach to the vaccination effort as they did when it came to Covid-19 testing. They will not be asking questions regarding legal status, to not dissuade anyone from getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
“If you have somebody who is undocumented and belongs to one of the priority groups they will receive the immunization and it will be free of charge. They're going to be afraid the same way they were afraid to get tested and they thought we were going to disclose any of their information which we are not,” City/County health authority Dr. Hector Ocaranza said.
